NewTek IP Series and NDI Shine at TwitchCon 2016

“When you can just plug everything into the network, it’s like you’ve got a free video router,” says Adam Contini, video production manager for Twitch from TwitchCon 2016. “You can put anything you need wherever you need it to be, so long as you can connect with NDI.”

The centerpiece of the esport channel’s TwitchCon 2016 was the Kappa Theater, where all their major production efforts centered on that venue’s main stage. Presentations plus contests on dozens of game systems and gaming computers all went through the new NewTek IP Series VMC 1, a single vision mixer capable of easily handling the 36 to 40 sources coming in throughout the event. This included 5 SDI cameras in the Kappa Theater, 4 SDI sources from game systems, and the rest all as NDI sources from networked game systems and computers.

Contini notes that esports video production has typically been divided into a very high-end using expensive broadcast equipment, or very low-end using low-priced equipment with very limited production features. Twitch’s live-streaming with high production values is an entirely new take on esports that fits neither of those buckets. “The only thing that we’ve ever been been able to find where you can say, here’s power, but power for the cost that you can provide, has been a TriCaster in the past. The NewTek IP Series continues the tradition of offering us the power that we need at a cost that we can afford.”

NewTek IP Series 4- stripe control surface in place in the control room.

NewTek IP Series VMC1 drove most of the video projection, in addition to delivering a broadcast feed of the production.